Recommended Sunday Reading—February 12

No news is good news

The Guardian, for example, sells a mere 150,000 copies. It's website is one of the most trafficked news sites in the world but it is free. Despite being subsidised by the Scott Trust, the paper has been haemorrhaging money. It is now reduced to begging its readers for contributions. If this is the future of one of the oldest and most storied liberal papers, what is the future? Jeff Bezos, Amazon's founder, bought the dwindling Washington Post and has restored it to something approaching health, but billionaire ownership can't be the answer. If news organisations can't pay their own way, news runs the risk of becoming a vanity project. In The Telegraph.

Women’s football gets a fresh lease of life

National footballers get a Daily Allowance of Rs 700 and women footballers till recently received even less. Between 1995 and 2003, the women's team was a regular at the Asian Cup, but not anymore. It's only very recently that the AIFF brought the daily allowances of the national women footballers on par with that of their male counterparts at Rs 700. Despite all the neglect, the women football in India continued its pursuit for excellence. But, it seems, direction of the wind is changing in their favour with the unveiling of the much-awaited Indian Women's League (IWL) -- a six-city, franchise-based 18-day-long championship. In The Tribune.

A new museum complex in Ahmedabad

Local folklore in Ahmedabad goes that a leading administrator in the city asked Lalbhai for a piece of land to set up educational institutions. They both walked up a small hillock and when Lalbhai asked how much land would be required, the person replied, “As far as the eye can see” and lo behold, Lalbhai immediately agreed to giveaway the land on a 99-year lease for a token fee of Re 1! And today some of the best-known educational institutions are housed on the land donated by Lalbhais. Continuing this tradition of philanthropy towards society, the family has come together to share its personal art collection with the people by building a museum named after their grandfather Kasturbhai. In Deccan Herald.

Politics and strange bedfellows

BJP has written to the Rajya Sabha chairman specifically stating Mr Swamy’s name should not be included in the party’s list of members to speak on debates. As a result, Mr Swamy does not get an opportunity to speak at length in the Upper House. This is the chief reason why Mr Swamy has not been heard regularly though he did make a splash when he first entered the Rajya Sabha. The BJP was initially thrilled when he attacked Congress president Sonia Gandhi but backed off subsequently because even its members were embarrassed by the wild allegations he levelled. In Deccan Chronicle.

Breathtaking views of a fort in Pakistan

The Derawar Fort was first built in the 9th century under the kingship of Rai Jajja Bhati, a Hindu Rajput from Jaisalmer in India's Rajasthan state. However, it was the Nawab of Bahawalpur, Sadeq Mohammad Khan I, who captured the fort in 1733 and had it rebuilt to how it looks today. In Dawn.